Karin brought a rice salad with shrimp, tuna and smoked salmon from the Splendid Table cookbook and her partner, Carl, brought these beautiful tandoori chicken kabobs.

Joanna brought quite a spread including tarragon butter and radish sandwiches:Goat cheese stuffed peppadew peppers. (These peppers were new to me. I really loved their sweet and tangy flavor.)

And sweet white wine coolers. She soaked green grapes in sugar and white wine for about three hours. The wine was then combined with lemon zest and served with lemon slices and seltzer water. It was a perfect and refreshing picnic beverage. (The boozy grapes were delicious too.)It was a lovely few hours. We hope to plan a similar, larger event later in the summer. If you live in Chicago and would like to join us, send me an email and I will put you on the invite list.